Bloomberg Daybreak Asia: Nvidia Earnings Beat
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
EliseAI raises $250 million in a16z-led round to expand in healthcare
By Krystal Hu (Reuters) -Enterprise software maker EliseAI has raised $250 million in a Series E funding round to expand its automation tools for the healthcare and housing industries, the company told Reuters. The latest funding values the company at over $2.2 billion, doubling its valuation from about a year ago. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and existing investors such as Sapphire Ventures. Shop Top Mortgage Rates Personalized rates in minutes A quicker path to financial freedom Your Path to Homeownership The New York-based company, which builds AI to automate customer service and operations, said it surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) earlier this year. The fresh capital will be used to fuel product innovation and double its roughly 300-person team over the next year, its CEO Minna Song told Reuters in an interview, with hiring plans across offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. The funding highlights investor appetite for so-called vertical AI companies that build deeply integrated, industry-specific solutions rather than general-purpose models. For EliseAI, the capital provides the firepower to deepen its hold on the real estate market and scale its newer healthcare division, tackling costly administrative tasks in two of the economy's largest and most complex sectors. "We've seen a fundamental shift in the market, from talking about AI to using it to solve really costly problems," Song said in an interview. "The demand from our customers was really strong, and so we decided that now is the time to invest in scaling." EliseAI's platform is able to automate the entire resolution process by focusing on specific industries, said Alex Immerman, partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "A vertical AI like ours will go really, really deep and will take that customer request and then handle every step that's required to resolve it," he said, including coordinating with vendors, scheduling, and ensuring compliance. The company started by targeting the housing industry in 2017, and expanded its applications to healthcare since 2022, an industry it said is burdened by similar communication friction and manual processes. With generative AI technology bursting onto the scene, its software can handle more complicated customer inquiries and workflows by integrating with models like the ones from OpenAI. It serves Zillow Group and other rental managers, and touts its technology is currently used in one in eight apartments in the U.S. In healthcare, the company has been focusing on outpatient specialties, including dermatology and women's health, integrating with electronic health record systems to automate administrative work. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
US tech stocks hit by concerns over future of AI boom
US tech stocks sold off as warnings that the hype surrounding artificial intelligence could be overdone hit some of the year's Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Xiaomi Plans Europe Foray in 2027 After EV Sales Gains Pace
(Bloomberg) -- Xiaomi Corp. intends to sell its first electric vehicle in Europe by 2027, declaring plans to take on Tesla Inc. and BYD Co. globally after gaining traction with its year-old Chinese EV business. President Lu Weibing shed more light on the company's expansion plans after reporting a 31% rise in quarterly revenue, riding the successful launch of its second EV over the summer. That helped counter slowing demand for smartphones. Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker Chicago Schools Seeks $1 Billion of Short-Term Debt as Cash Gone A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System Trump Takes Second Swing at Cutting Housing Assistance for Immigrants A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome Xiaomi has previously described ambitions to go global, though it's never specified a target market. While Europe is a common destination for Chinese EV makers seeking to tap a more lucrative arena, considering they can often sell their cars with higher margins there, they do face punitive tariffs. Were Xiaomi to export its EVs to Europe, it would likely be subject to tariffs of up to 48%, including a base 10% import duty and additional countervailing levies of around 35% to 38%. Those measures were imposed by the European Union in response to what it deems unfair state subsidies provided to Chinese EV makers, which the bloc argues distorts market competition and threatens local manufacturers. Chinese EV makers also face tariffs of 100% if they want to sell their cars in the US. That's effectively shut them entirely out of the market. Read: Europe Warms to China's Investments in Face of US Tariffs Regardless, strong demand for the YU7 sport utility vehicle, which co-founder Lei Jun released at the end of June, is propelling Xiaomi's $10 billion gamble on the increasingly crowded EV arena. The company aims to become one of the world's top five carmakers within 15 to 20 years, despite a production crunch that's testing its ability to scale up. Wait times for the SUV have stretched to more than a year. 'The business model we have developed in China can also apply in overseas market when we get into Europe,' Lu told analysts on a call. 'We're doing the research and preparation. So far we have not got the specific product plan yet.' Revenue climbed to 116 billion yuan ($16.2 billion) in the June quarter, just edging past average analyst estimates. The tech giant delivered 81,302 cars, taking the total to more than 157,000 in the first half — on track to surpass 2024's haul. But smartphones — its original and largest business — slid 2.1% and missed the average projection by about 5%. While Xiaomi doesn't expect smartphones to see much growth this year, the company's goal is to increase its market share in China by 1% every year, Lu told reporters on a post-earnings call Tuesday. It expects growth of about 5 to 6 percentage points in shipments this year to 175 million devices, executives said. Losses from the EV division narrowed to about 300 million yuan during the period. Lei said at an investor meeting in June that the automaking venture is expected to turn profitable in the second half of this year. Xiaomi has gained some $120 billion of market value over the past year, galvanized by its drive into EVs that's gained momentum against much larger and more experienced rivals. The company seems to have shaken off a fatal accident involving one of its SU7 sedans in March, which had its Autopilot turned on. The crash prompted regulators to rein in the deployment of advanced driver assistance technology nationwide. The Chinese government also intervened in June to try to stop a long-running price war that has squeezed margins all along the auto supply chain. Xiaomi has avoided getting embroiled in the discounting thanks in large part to demand for its vehicles remaining very high. Xiaomi's overall net income roughly doubled to 11.9 billion yuan, helped by fair value gains on financial instruments. Still, the stock is now trading at more expensive valuations than BYD as well as global smartphone rival Samsung Electronics Co. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Xiaomi's robust 3.2 percentage point EV gross margin sequential growth in 2Q reflects improving economies of scale and a favorable product-mix shift, helping together with solid internet-of-things growth to offset smartphone headwinds. The ramp-up of Xiaomi's second EV factory and a rising sales mix of the YU7 SUV could boost margin, supporting breakeven in the EV segment by end-2025 and potentially driving a 2025-26 profit beat. - Steven Tseng and Sean Chen Click here for the research. Xiaomi is grappling with a slowdown in its core business and sluggish consumer spending. Along with rivals Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co., it's been offering steep discounts over the big June shopping festival in an attempt to lure shoppers, pressuring margins. AI and chip design is another arena where Xiaomi is ramping up resources. The Beijing-based firm unveiled a 3-nanometer chip called the Xring O1 chip, designed to power devices including the Tablet 7 Ultra. Lei said the company would invest $7 billion this decade into semiconductors. (Updates throughout with context, comments from press call.) Foreigners Are Buying US Homes Again While Americans Get Sidelined What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Women's Earnings Never Really Recover After They Have Children Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Survived Bankruptcy. Next Up: Cultural Relevance? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
